Don't RTH when drone tries to fly away...

[David Armstrong]

I have been reading a lot of sad stories with crashes, fly aways, and such.

I have noticed that the first reflex that people have in these events (especially fly aways) is to flip the RTH switch.

I may be wrong, but isn't that the last thing you would want to do?
Wouldn't it be best to try to turn "off" autonomous flight features? (Switch to Angle, turn off GPS)

 

[David Armstrong]

Sorry for the double post...
Is there a way to delete my earlier post:
Don't RTH when drone starts to fly away...

 

[Brian Mackey]

Sorry for the double post...
Is there a way to delete my earlier post:
Don't RTH when drone starts to fly away...

NO if you have the latest firmware , and you Panic, RTH is great, It goes up to default 66 feet and then fly's right over your head and will land it in front of you - great for anxiety relief --

 

[Brian Mackey]

I have been reading a lot of sad stories with crashes, fly aways, and such.

I have noticed that the first reflex that people have in these events (especially fly aways) is to flip the RTH switch.

I may be wrong, but isn't that the last thing you would want to do?
Wouldn't it be best to try to turn "off" autonomous flight features? (Switch to Angle, turn off GPS)

Oh and you should always be in angle mode! No need to turn off GPS unless RTH does not respond

 

[Steve Carr]

I have been reading a lot of sad stories with crashes, fly aways, and such.

I have noticed that the first reflex that people have in these events (especially fly aways) is to flip the RTH switch.

I may be wrong, but isn't that the last thing you would want to do?
Wouldn't it be best to try to turn "off" autonomous flight features? (Switch to Angle, turn off GPS)

If you've done a firmware update and find your H stops responding to the controller, the first thing to try is max left stick to gain altitude if possible (add some yaw at the same time). Next step would be to turn off GPS and then see if you can regain control. Once you turn off GPS you will be in Angle mode by default regardless of the switch position so don't worry about Smart or RTH. They are disabled.

 

[BobW55]

Steve,
Good to know. I guess when I get my H back, I will have to have the GPS on/off up on the screen at all times, little hard to get to in a panic situation. Still wish they would move it to the AUX button.
Shame that it will take me many flights to trust it again before I go out over water.

 

[samsflite]

I agree. If a flyaway starts to happen the RTH is unlikely to help unless the GPS recovers. If that happens then the flyaway would stop anyway and it would hold position again. Switching RTH could improve things or make it worse depending on where it thinks it is and where it thinks home is.
After hearing about all these flyaways I've now added a turning off GPS procedure in all my practise/test flights. Hopefully it means if it ever happens to me I can calmly (maybe) go straight to the correct menu and disable GPS before it gets too far away and get it back under control. I'm very comfortable in manual mode having only ever flown in that for 4 years prior, so I'm confident I could get it back even if it's way out.
They really should put GPS enable/disable on the aux switch, making it like the arm/disarm one with the long press. It would make it so much quicker to disable in the event of a flyaway.

 

[PatR]

If experiencing what appears to be a fly away the first thing to do is switch to Angle mode and reduce power. Don't start banging on pitch, roll, and yaw until you are absolutely clear about aircraft orientation. RTH could be a disaster waiting to happen if GPS has failed. In Angle mode, once releasing the sticks the aircraft stops in place if the flight mode and controls are working properly.

If you still have stick input response from the aircraft the throttle stick can be your best friend. It's far better to induce a controlled crash than to lose your aircraft to the wild blue yonder. Even with drones the three primary rules for an aviation emergency stand true; Aviate, navigate, communicate, in that order. Fly the aircraft first, make system changes after.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hatfield]

I find this all interesting. Of course I want to be prepared but I have never flown without GPS and really would rather not but, apparently, it can happen. What exactly happens whens GPS is turned off? Will it hover without input like it does with GPS? Is it much harder to fly? I never could fly remote helis worth a darn, never learned the motor functions. Is a GPS off flight available on the simulator program?

 

[Steve Carr]

A couple of clarifications:

The reason for max left stick climb and a bit of yaw at the same time is an attempt to gain enough altitude to buy enough time to turn off the GPS. If it's flying away at speed the added yaw potentially will keep it going in circles closer to you.

If you have a warning on the screen that prevents you from accessing the GPS menu, then hit the return key below the screen to clear the message.

 

[Dragonflyerthom]

OK I am now thinking the H is getting hot and maybe limiting it to one battery after a firmware update. I have noticed a slight warm wire covering smell Now as far as the RTH, it is part of the failsafe system thus one of the tools to get the TH back under your control. Do'n't dismiss it.

 

[Steve Carr]

I find this all interesting. Of course I want to be prepared but I have never flown without GPS and really would rather not but, apparently, it can happen. What exactly happens whens GPS is turned off? Will it hover without input like it does with GPS? Is it much harder to fly? I never could fly remote helis worth a darn, never learned the motor functions. Is a GPS off flight available on the simulator program?

The gps off will work on the simulator.
With the gps off, the controller switches to Angle mode. The only thing that is different is station keeping and speed. It will hover, but will drift with the wind. The max speed will increase to perhaps 50 mph.

 

[glider]

I find this all interesting. Of course I want to be prepared but I have never flown without GPS and really would rather not but, apparently, it can happen. What exactly happens whens GPS is turned off? Will it hover without input like it does with GPS? Is it much harder to fly? I never could fly remote helis worth a darn, never learned the motor functions. Is a GPS off flight available on the simulator program?

IMO, you're best off buying a cheap light small quad MR possibly with a barometer (e.g. Syma X5) and no GPS, then master flying it before chancing a crash with the H.

Crash these (within reason) and the most you'll replace is a broken prop. They are tough flyers and very basic designs, plus give decent flight times.
TowerHobbies.com | Dromida Vista UAV Quadcopter Drone RTF

 

[RiverRunner]

After several Phantom flyaways (all recovered) it becomes a reflex to switch to ATTI mode (non GPS on the Phantom) whenever the aircraft starts to misbehave. In many flyaway conditions, the aircraft may not seem to respond to any directional inputs. Gaining altitude may help if she responds to throttle.
I have not had anything close to a flyaway with the H. It would be nice to be able to turn the GPS off with a switch.

 

[Brent]

IMO, you're best off buying a cheap light small quad MR possibly with a barometer (e.g. Syma X5) and no GPS, then master flying it before chancing a crash with the H.

Crash these (within reason) and the most you'll replace is a broken prop. They are tough flyers and very basic designs, plus give decent flight times.
TowerHobbies.com | Dromida Vista UAV Quadcopter Drone RTF

I still fly my Blade Nano all the time. I have never used SAFE mode with it. Great little flyer to practice with.


Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

I have been reading a lot of sad stories with crashes, fly aways, and such.

I have noticed that the first reflex that people have in these events (especially fly aways) is to flip the RTH switch.

I may be wrong, but isn't that the last thing you would want to do?
Wouldn't it be best to try to turn "off" autonomous flight features? (Switch to Angle, turn off GPS)

I noticed the same thing on this forum. A heck of a lot of pilots use the term "Fly Away". I think the term "Fly Away" began in the days of the Phantoms. The early models (version 1) would lose connection and get confused and never come back.

When I see people post "Fly Away" with regards to the Typhoon H, I take it as meaning that they lost control of it and it crashed. In the year 2016 drones really don't "Fly Away" if they are connected to a remote controller. Drones do, however, fly away when they are not connected to a controller and there is a compass error. Hitting RTH in such a case should do nothing (because the controller is not connected). The drone itself will fly away because the failsafe kicks in and it can't find home due to the compass error, so it heads off in the direction it believes is home or it just decides to land or hover where it is until the battery dies (like over water).

All of the above to say... If you have a true "Fly Away" meaning you've lost 100% connection between the drone and the controller, then hitting RTH will do nothing.

If you go on the Phantom forums, when people say Fly Away, we all no that in reality it means the pilot has lost control of the drone for whatever reason.

 

[David Armstrong]

NO if you have the latest firmware , and you Panic, RTH is great, It goes up to default 66 feet and then fly's right over your head and will land it in front of you - great for anxiety relief --

I noticed the same thing on this forum. A heck of a lot of pilots use the term "Fly Away". I think the term "Fly Away" began in the days of the Phantoms. The early models (version 1) would lose connection and get confused and never come back.

When I see people post "Fly Away" with regards to the Typhoon H, I take it as meaning that they lost control of it and it crashed. In the year 2016 drones really don't "Fly Away" if they are connected to a remote controller. Drones do, however, fly away when they are not connected to a controller and there is a compass error. Hitting RTH in such a case should do nothing (because the controller is not connected). The drone itself will fly away because the failsafe kicks in and it can't find home due to the compass error, so it heads off in the direction it believes is home or it just decides to land or hover where it is until the battery dies (like over water).

All of the above to say... If you have a true "Fly Away" meaning you've lost 100% connection between the drone and the controller, then hitting RTH will do nothing.

If you go on the Phantom forums, when people say Fly Away, we all no that in reality it means the pilot has lost control of the drone for whatever reason.

What it looks like that most term as "fly away", is if the drone takes off into a direction without that specific stick input.
Almost seeming to be like an autonomous flight control kicking in. For me, this seems to be the scariest circumstance to be in.
I know it is not a common thing, but I have read of people flying to where it seemed that nothing was wrong and all of the sudden the drone just keeps flying in a somewhat straight line until it crashes into something. Almost like it lost connection.
My point was that if for some reason the drone loses connection or the flight controller decides that the drone should "take flight," this would be a sign that the FC is disoriented and engaging RTH could possibly make things worse. If the drone is malfunctioning and is having intermittent connection with the controller (and/or satellites), turning on RTH could be what is causing some drones to shoot off into another direction, thinking that "home" is somewhere else.

I realize that if the drone has a bad connection with the controller, it will probably not even receive the RTH signal, nor the gps off signal.
However, if it all possible, it would seem like turning off the GPS would help put the drone into almost a complete manual mode.
Therefore shutting down any automatic controls the flight controller may be instilling.

I may be wrong about this concerning this particular drone, but I used to fly Lumenier QAV500s and it was always a smart idea to have a switch programmed to turn off all flight assist modes and return everything to manual, just in case you made an error while programming some the FC parameters. Otherwise, your drone could start doing some crazy things.

 

[RiverRunner]

Many of the flyaways with the Phantom were not due to loss of signal from the transmitter. They were caused by GPS and or compass problems. The Phantom would try to hold position or orientation using bad information from the sensors. In the program, this apparently took precedence over positional commands from the transmitter. It would appear that the aircraft had lost signal but it would respond to switching from GPS to Atti mode. Signal was not lost, just ignored. Once in Atti mode, GPS and compass information is not used so the pilot would be able to steer the bird home if it was still in sight. Unfortunately, many pilots, did not know to switch modes or waited to late or did not know how to fly without compass and GPS. The aircraft would be out of sight, crashed into a tree or in the water somewhere.
The later models automatically switch modes when GPS data was lost or compass values were out of range. Later still they added redundant sensors.
When the aircraft has bad GPS or compass data, you cannot use return to home. You can fly it back visually if you can see it.
It would be possible to design the program such that it could fly back home without compass data as long as the GPS was working.

 

[Dragonflyerthom]

If these problems are heat related or cold solder joint related, then it won't matter what you do to the controller the motherboard is now in charge so see if you can keep an eye on the camera. Then you can go to the last position that you have a reference too.

 

[Tony2016]

I read the thread and there's conflicting information about 'fly away" . First for the definition and then what to do when it happens.

What is a flyway situation exactly? You lose control of the drone when you still have connection to it? You lose control when there's no connection? The drone loses GPS and it doesn't know where to go? I don't get how you turn off the GPS on the drone or tell it to do anything if there's no connection to it!

Once the definition is established. What are the correct steps? How do you turn off the GPS?
Also if you wish the H do something like having easier access to the GPS setting, is anyone telling Yuneec directly? Don't depend on them reading forums.

 

[Max Gibson]

This is a great thread. It reminds of a snowed-out night near the northern lakes. Bush pilots were sharing their experiences in saving the day by going off the text book instructions.